9/25/2013 Response:

Hey, Matt,

Neat question! I'm wondering how the reading you've done thus far might now be informing your thoughts in terms of a possible answer... What would Andrews say? P & W?

A few thoughts as I consider your question:

-I think it is neat to have students observe and explore factors that have caused language changes -- both recent and in the past. Andrews calls for this and gives many examples of the contexts in which we might have students do it.

-In terms of educators trying to teach these changes, I don't know if they'd/we'd need to do direct teaching of this if we provide examples and give them opportunities to enact language exploration and awareness. Ultimately, I think we'd want to be aware of what our goals and objectives were with exploring language change and what the payoff for students is in their knowledge and awareness of this.

I look forward to hearing where you are with your thoughts.

Best,

Dr. Young